A sassy letter from John Lennon to the Queen has been discovered

A letter written by John Lennon to the Queen in 1969 has been discovered inside a record sleeve, explaining his decision to return his MBE.

The Beatles received the honour back in 1965, but Lennon returned it four years later to protest against British involvement in the Nigerian Civil War, along with the UK’s support of US involvement in the Vietnam War.

On the letter, which you can check out at The Beatles Story, he wrote: ‘Your Majesty, I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.’

A supposed draft letter from John Lennon to the Queen (Picture: The Beatles Story)

He concluded: ‘With love, John Lennon of Bag.’

The letter was discovered by an anonymous owner inside the sleeve of a record which was part of a collection of 45s, bought for a measly £10 at a car boot sale 20 years ago, with the owner then taking it to The Beatles Story exhibition in Liverpool on Wednesday (October 26) where it was valued to be worth an estimated £60,000.

One music memorabilia expert, Darren Julien, however told the BBC how he believes the letter is actually a draft of the one originally sent, because The Queen and smeared ink simply do not go together.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were part of a peace campaign protesting against the Vietnam War (Picture: Getty Images)

‘If you’re writing to the Queen, you want the letter to look pretty perfect, you don’t want the ink to be smudged. This suggests that he wrote a second version of the letter, which was the one that was actually sent,’ Darren said.

Or Lennon simply didn’t give two hoots about being prim for the monarchy?

But we’ll take the experts’ word for it.

If you’re wondering what the reference to Cold Turkey is all about in the letter, it refers to a song written by Lennon in 1969 and released by the Plastic Ono Band, which you can enjoy below.